11 minute read
Membership Benefits Upcoming events and members' benefits
NEWS
LAW SOCIETY EVENTS HOW TO LITIGATE IN THE BPC 03 March 2020 17:00 - 20:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
LINKEDIN FOR SOLICITORS, FEE EARNERS AND TEAMS WITHIN LAW FIRMS 05 March 2020 8:30 – 12.00 @ Irwin Mitchell, 9th Floor, The Colmore Building 20 Colmore Circus B4 6AH
THE LAWS OF CONFIDENCE; CONFIDENT PEOPLE ARE MADE NOT BORN 17 March 2020 8:00-10.00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK; FROM ONE PROFESSIONAL TO ANOTHER 17 March 2020 12:00 - 14:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
LUNCH CLUB WITH PREET KAUR GILL MP 20 March 2020 12:00 - 13:30 @ Chung Ying Central, 126 Colmore Row Birmingham B3 3AP
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH ACCOUNTING AND VALUATIONS: SESSION THREE 23 March 2020 8:00 - 9:30 @ Mazars
SOLICITORS ACCOUNTS RULES 25 March 2020 13:30 - 17:00 @ Colmore Building 20 Colmore Circus B4 6AH
ADVOCACY TRAINING 26 March 2020 12:00 - 17:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
BOTTEGA 10% discount on total bill (food and drinks) for all Birmingham Law Society members if mention Birmingham Law Society or show a business card when booking a table, order food or drinks at the restaurant. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offers.
LOKI WINE Members of Birmingham Law Society receive a 10% discount on purchases. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer with Loki Wine.
Please mention that you are a member of Birmingham Law Society at the moment of purchase. Address: 36 Great Western Arcade, Birmingham B2 5HU
R
TM LEWIN 15% off everything, valid until Thursday 19 March 2020 inclusive.
HOW TO REDEEM YOUR OFFER: Print out the voucher and present it in store or enter code ”BCBLAW19” at the online
Birmingham Law Society
checkout.
HOW TO REDEEM YOUR OFFER. Present this voucher in store or enter code ””BCBLAW19”” at the online checkout.
Terms & conditions: Discount will only be given on T’s & C’s: Discount will only be given on presentation of this voucher in-store in the UK & Ireland. Discount cannot be redeemed against previous purchases, used in conjunction with any other offer, voucher, discount code or gift card purchases. *Excludes Loake Shoes. Valid Tuesday 21st January until Thursday 19th March 2020 inclusive.
presentation of this voucher in-store in the UK & Ireland. Discount cannot be redeemed against previous purchases,
used in conjunction with any other offer, voucher, discount code or gift card purchases. *Excludes Loake Shoes. Valid Tuesday 21st January until Thursday 19th March 2020 inclusive.
LEGAL AWARDS 2020 27 March 2020 @ ICC
INTRODUCTION TO LEADING WITH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE (CQ) 09 April 2020 7:30 - 9:30 @ Pinsent Masons, 55 Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2FG
AGM - MEMBERS ONLY 28 April 2020 17:00 - 19:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH ACCOUNTING AND VALUATIONS: SESSION FOUR 29 April 2020 8:00 - 9:30 @ Mazars
PERSONAL BRAND; DEVELOP YOUR PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION 05 May 2020 8:00-10:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
MOTIVATE YOUR TEAM AND DELEGATE EFFECTIVELY 05 May 2020 12:30-14:00 @ No5 Chambers, Fountain Court, Steelhouse Ln, Birmingham B4 6DR
GOLF DAY 07 May 2020 12:30 - 20:00 @ Forest of Arden Golf Club, Maxstoke Ln, Meriden, Birmingham, Coventry CV7 7HR
DOING YOURSELF JUSTICE IN COURT 13-May-20 8:30-12:00 & 13:30-17:00 @ Irwin Mitchell, 9th Floor, The Colmore Building 20 Colmore Circus B4 6AH
NETBALL TOURNAMENT 20th May 2020 16:30 - 21:00 @ ACTION Sports, Marsh Hill, Birmingham, B23 7EY
IT'S A KNOCKOUT 19th June 2020 15:30 - 18:00 @ Bassetts Pole Adventure Park, Trickley Coppice, London Road Bassetts Pole Sutton Coldfield B75 5SA
On Friday 31st January, Birmingham Law Society hosted its first ‘Making the Most of your Membership’ networking breakfast.
The event offered our members the opportunity to meet with chairs of the Society’s 14 committees, as well as Directors, Officers and the staff team and find out about the work that they do on behalf of the local legal community.
It was also an opportunity for members to hear about upcoming events and initiatives and to discover how they can benefit from and get more involved with the work of the Society, whilst networking and enjoying a complementary breakfast.
Following the success of this initial event, we will be running similar breakfast networking events every six months going forwards.
HOW TO FIND THE BEST IT SUPPLIERS FOR YOUR NEXT GENERATION SOFTWARE
productivity and profitability benefits be unlocked. A guide for Practice Managers tasked with pulling together a short-list by Brian Welsh, CEO at Insight Legal
Sadly, unscrupulous suppliers do exist in the legal IT market. Sales tactics and retention strategies can be at the sharper end of what law firms are used to. Some suppliers see firms as soft targets; they are perceived to have deep pockets and are not as IT savvy as ‘real’ businesses.
Any independent evidence available about the quality of a software supplier is valuable. Accreditations or approved supplier status are two examples. Insight Legal is recognised as an Approved Supplier by The Law Society of Scotland and as a Strategic Partner of the Law Society of England and Wales.
If you’re reading this then you won’t need telling about the winds of change blowing through the legal landscape. It’s a familiar tale. Everyone it seems is expecting twice as much to be done, in half the time for no more money! The rising expectations of clients, the requirements of the regulators and the growth of ‘volume’ providers are akin to a perfect storm affecting many firms’ financial performance. Is efficiency, productivity and profitability important to your firm? If so, then a modern legal IT system, meeting the needs of the practice and its clients is vital for long-term sustainability. Sadly, the efficiencies that need to be found no longer exist by just improving existing methods. As Henry Ford, a true innovator said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” It may be time, at the start of a new decade, that your firm looked again at what IT software solutions can deliver. The challenge for Practice Managers tasked with scouring the supplier market, is whittling down a long list of ‘possible’ IT suppliers to a sensible short-list of ‘suitable’ IT suppliers. Only by finding the right supplier for your firm will the efficiency, 190x136mm The Bulletin choosing the right IT 12/02/2020 10:35 Page 1 Our commitment is to deliver an honest, proudly independent, approachable and technologically flawless service for Scottish firms in an evercompetitive legal IT sector. Insight has a number of clients in Scotland, all supported by the team in our Glasgow office who are knowledgeable about Scottish law.
Our guide about choosing a reputable supplier, is designed to help IT Directors and Practice Managers through the process of identifying a supplier short-list and then how to select the right partner.
To download our White Paper on how to choose a reputable software supplier visit: www.insightlegal.co.uk/news To discuss this topic further or the services we can offer, please give us a call on 01252 518939, email us at info@insightlegal.co.uk or visit our website; www.insightlegal.co.uk
NEWS
LEGALLY (DIS)ABLED? On Thursday 30 January 2020, Birmingham Law Society’s Disability Committee held their inaugural event, “Inspired by Legally (Dis)abled”.
As the name suggests, the event was inspired by the research project “Legally Disabled?” undertaken by Professor Debbie Foster (Cardiff University) and Dr Natasha Hirst (Independent) at the Cardiff Business School. This was carried out in partnership with the Lawyers with Disabilities Division of the Law Society. The project looked into “the career experiences of disabled people working in the legal profession” and launched its reports at a conference on 24 January 2020.
With findings that are unlikely to surprise a majority of disabled members of the profession, the research found that access to reasonable adjustments often depended on the relationship between the disabled person and their line manager and this could be a ‘luck of the draw’ situation. Additionally, the legal profession was likely to have outdated working process which unfairly disadvantaged disabled colleagues. Access to the legal profession was also an issue with disabled candidates often hiding their disability or not requesting reasonable adjustments out of fear this would have an adverse effect on their applications.
Our aim with this event was to open up the world of those with disabilities within the profession. We invited a range of speakers, with a variety of experiences, to be part of our panel event and discussed issues such as “What barriers did you face getting into the legal profession?” and “How and when to have a conversation about reasonable adjustments with your employer?”
To start us off, Iyanu Onalaja of Shoosmiths provided a brilliant keynote speech on her experiences as a wheelchair user and qualified real estate lawyer remarking that “any firm who is not willing to work with me and my disability is not a firm for me!” which was followed by the panel session.
The panel was made up of Emily Chalkey of Charles Russell Speechleys who spoke about Dyslexia, Keith Whitehead of Irwin Mitchell who spoke about caring for a disabled partner, Judge Veronica Dean (formerly a partner at Edge & Ellison now Squire Patton Boggs) who works as an Employment Judge talked about Multiple Sclerosis, Elizabeth Sangobiyi of Freshfields who spoke about deafness and invisible disabilities and Whitney Joseph of Mayer Brown who spoke about sickle cell disease. The panel was hosted by Disability Committee chair Emily Morris of DWF and Disability Committee member Victoria Towers.
The panel was followed by a Q&A session and an opportunity to network. We have received many comments that the event was a great opportunity for people to link up with others in the profession with disabilities and that it made people feel more confident about discussing their disabilities with their employers.
The event was extremely popular and attended by members from all levels of the profession, including students.
Many thanks to Linden Thomas (President of BLS) for her opening words, the Birmingham Law Society for providing funding and Shoosmiths LLP for hosting the event and providing refreshments.
Louise Walker, Relationship Manager for West Midlands and Oxfordshire at Teenage Cancer Trust said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen by Higgs & Sons as their 2020 Charity of the Year. With their help we can improve the experience, survival and recovery of young people with cancer in the Black Country and beyond. HIGGS & SONS NAMES ITS NEW CHARITY OF THE YEAR AS TEENAGE CANCER TRUST
Higgs & Sons has announced its Charity of the Year for 2020 as the Teenage Cancer Trust. The two organisations will be working closely together throughout the year in order to raise funds and awareness of the work Teenage Cancer Trust undertakes throughout the region.
“Each year, colleagues across the firm put forward the names of organisations to consider for support through our extensive CSR programme. We then vote to select our main charity of the year and a number of other organisations who will receive support “2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Teenage Cancer trust we are looking forward to an exciting year ahead, working alongside Higgs on a fun-filled calendar of charity fundraising.”
through the Higgs Charitable trust which we established two years ago.This year we are thrilled to be supporting Teenage Cancer Trust and are looking forward to working with them on a number of exciting initiatives throughout the year.”
Teenage Cancer Trust is the only UK charity dedicated to providing young people who have received a diagnosis of cancer with specialised nursing care and support. Its world-class services provide life-changing care and support so that young people don’t have to face cancer alone.
Tim Jones concludes “Over the past five years we have raised in excess of £120,000 for good causes – an incredible amount. But alongside that we also believe it is important to get involved with each of our charities, offering hands-on practical support and making the most of the expertise and enthusiasm we have to offer. “We are looking forward to carrying on that tradition with Teenage Cancer Trust by supporting them in the work they undertake providing essential help and support to teenagers and young people here in the Black Country and throughout the UK.”
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